Hello, my name is Adrien, i am 19 years old and i have been diagnosed with Hodgkin Cancer.
I am not sure why i am writing this right now, maybe i just need some attention, maybe i just need to talk about it or perhaps i just needed u guys to know.
I thought maybe i could explain to you what this actually is, but i am not sure myself. Feel free to check it out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodgkin%27s_lymphomaLoads of words i don't understand nor translate ...
Nothing better than the internet when you are feeling lonely, and tonight is one of those nights, so i am going to talk about it a bit, feel free to close this topic and go back to AA anytime
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It all started approximately 5 months ago. Every day i felt weaker and exhausted. My first thought went to mononucleosis, as it was the only 'disease' i knew about that made you feel tired. After a visit to my doctor, and a blood-check all he could see was 'a little infection'. He told me to come back in a month to see how it's evolving, which i did.
That's when he took a second blood-check, to compare it to the first one. In the meanwhile i had some symptoms like hot nights, scratching legs and most important of it, a bump next to my shoulder, considered as a lymph (not sure about the translation). The next morning, when i woke up ( next afternoon actually, because I used to sleep over a very long time due to my tiredness) the doctor called me to announce me this 'news'. Never will i forget the intonation of his. He told me "Adrien, your blood has been analyzed and there clearly is something not normal, I give you strong advice to go the the emergencies right now to have (one more) check on you"
I really had no idea what I was going through, but i knew it was not going to be funny. I went to the hospital as he told me, and since then i have had loads and loads of tests, scans, blood-checks etc. Stayed there for two days/nights until the doctor told me i probably had the Hodgkin disease, also called the Lymph-cancer. On that really moment i still wasn't really sure what this was all about. She did not pronounce the word 'cancer' so i had no idea what this Hodgkin disease was. It's only few hours later when i talked with my mother, who apparently had made research about it, that i understood what was going on.
Soon i had a 'port a cath' implanted in my chest. Couldn't find the English word for it, so i will just send you a random picture.
(edit: I clearly still don't understand how to put a link on this forum, ain't working for some reason, go check it out by yourself
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Basically it's implanted in people with cancer do they don't have to kill your entire arm every time with the needles, and i think it hurts less.The operation of implanting me that thing is the most horrible memory i have for now. I was supposed to be 'locally-asleep' but i wasn't completely so i never felt something so painful. It's the kind of things that happen only in movies you know haha, it was crazy.
Afterwards scans had to be made to identify the 'grade' of the disease and the location of the infected lymphs. I was told the grade was not the worst, but that I had a huge lymph in the mediastinum, near the lungs. This meant that my treatment had to be hard. There were some meetings with my doctor and parents at the hospital, to explain how this was going to work. I was told, there would be no radiotherapy, as it leaves you with too much drawbacks.
I am currently under a BEACOPP chemotherapy, which is pretty hard. My treatment consists in 6 cycles.
If you are interested i am going to explain you the cycles i go through. Are you interested? Yes? Oh cool, here it come.
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One cycles consists in 3 weeks.
- Week 1
I have to go to the hospital on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to receive my chemotherapy there.
On that Monday i need to stay the entire day, but on Tuesday and Wednesday y presence there is only required for a few hours. During that week i feel 'ok'. I'm not in my best mood but i don't really have nausea that week, only tiredness.
- Week 2
I only have to go to the hospital on Monday. This is pretty much a horrible week. During those days, my immune system is at his weakest point. I am like a 'virus-magnet' at that moment. I have to avoid contact with people, and when i go to the hospital i need to ware a mask, because of how inactive my immune system is. Symptoms of that week are exhaustedness, like I have never endure before. I didn't even think it was possible to be so tired. It's like i am paralyzed of my legs, i can barely move from my bed. And sadly another symptom is throat/mouth-ache. I get a lot of painful ulcers in my mouth. There is not really something to do against it, apart from taking mouth-bathes like they call it. During this week I have to inject me with some product that will make my white blood cells increase (the lack of white blood cells is the main reason of my inactive immune-system during that week)
- Week 3
This is my 'holiday-week'
I don't have to go to the hospital if anything goes right, i can see friends and family again, and i am feeling pretty normal, so that's maybe the week where I don't spend my entire days on AA
And then the cycle ends, and a now one begins. Now i am at my 4th cycle, 2nd week (which will nearly end, finally)
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You have maybe read it on the link i have posted (not sure anyone will read it, but hey, who cares) but the Hodgkin disease has a good cure percentage. I am not troubled about the fact that the treatment is efficient, and i have adopted a positive attitude toward the disease since day 1. "Your mood can change a lot of things in this therapy" they told me so many times now, so i try my best to stay positive. Sure it is not always easy, it happens i have some of those days/nights like now, feeling a bit alone and being jealous on other people on holiday.
Now, this is the end of my story for now. All i can say about all this, is that i have a lot of respect towards all the staff at the hospital. The doctors, nurses, everybody is just fucking awesome every time i go there, so big up to them
I'll gladly answer to some questions if you guys are interested, and maybe someone else want to tell his story?
Good night
Adrien